Belly Fat

[Deleted User]

lotte8 wrote: »

Their is no magical solution I am afraid. Diet and exercise really is the key.
Eat right. Forget diets and all that rubbish just eat right. Cut the fizzy drinks out, sweets, crisps etc. Cut the wheat. Are you wheat intolerant? Are you milk intolerant? Are you eating fatty meats? Is the food you are eating full of sugar? Would going veggie/vegan work for you? It does for a lot of people. All questions that you need to ask yourself. Try cutting things out and see how you feel.
Are you simply over filling your plate? It is an eye opener to actually see what portions you should be eating. I eat a homemade gluten free granola for breakfast and the serving size is 50g. Basically about a third of a bowl.

Exercise. You don't need to hit the gym. Grab some comfy trainers and go for jog around a local park. If you only manage say 1 mile then great, do that a few times and you will progress. Don't fancy running or going out in the cold. Download/stream workouts. Their is a ton of stuff on youtube. Have you thought about Yoga/Pilates? There is a 30 day yoga challenge on youtube. Acquire workout programes. Start with something like T25. 25 mins a day and start of really easy and ramps it up over 3 months. Everybody has 25 mins in a day. Beachbody the home of insanity/T25/p90x plus a load of otherstuff do a streaming service for around £2 a week. There is a new programe called Cize which is dancing, a few friends love it. They don't like exercise but love dancing.

Their really is no magic formula. Good diet and exercise is key, but diet is the main one. It is said that abs are made in the kitchen. That should tell you how important a good diet is.

Good luck.

Really good advice, I ll add my two penworth which may help.Try and follow a "diabetic " diet. We have to eat stuff which wont spike our blood sugar levels and in doing so naturally cut down on higher calorie food intake. The Hairy Bikers had a very successful recipe book which concentrated on Third World spicey recipes using beans and lentils and brown rice which are slow to digest and therfore don t spike the blood sugar levels. As the Hairy Bikers said, " theres no calories in spices " ( well next to none )
I don t think you can call a diabetic regime a diet.It seems strict to begin with but with imagination and third world recipes its a doddle. My weight went down steadily over a year from 12st 7lb to a plateau around the 10 stone 7 mark and has stayed there for about 5 years.
These hopeless diet fads which keep on cropping up are doomed to failure from day one, New Atkins , 5/2, ( that one is unbelievably stupid ) just plain bonkers to think anyone can keep up this malarkey for the rest of their lives. Theres no point in starting the latest fashionable diet if you re not going to stick to it for the long haul.why yo yo from diet to diet. A proper diabetic regime works for hundreds of thousands in the UK, its got to work because our lives, eye sight and limbs depend on it.

Angry_Bear

I've always had a problem with binge eating too. Part of my problem is that I get a craving, then when I start I shovel it in too quickly for it to really register and just keep going until it's gone. It isn't until 30 minutes later that I feel "full" and realise (physically) that I've actually eaten far too much . But like you I find it difficult to say no sometimes even when I know I'm already full. It's not something I succumb to very often any more but it's something I always have to be aware of.

I now do the 5:2 "diet" (fasting 2 days a week with 500 calories or less) - and I find this works for me. As long as I don't start it's much easier to stick to - and the knowledge that if I want something "I can have it tomorrow" helps - for what it's worth I rarely have it the next day! I've also heard elsewhere that fasting is a "good" method of dieting for people who constantly feel hungry and who binge.

It might not suit you, I know a few people who really couldn't get on with it, but it might be worth a try.
For what it's worth, the unintended consequences of the 5:2 for me have been

1. I've relearned what it is to feel hungry. I think for a long time I was eating because it was a habit or because I was confusing thirst with hunger. Eating very little on fasting days means by the time breakfast comes the next day I feel actual hunger. It's oddly satisfying to eat when you feel hungry :undecided
2. I've learned how much bang you can really get for your buck calorie wise if you choose well. It's amazing the range and amount of food you can actually get for 500 calories. And once you've done that for a day, wasting 500 cals on a full fat mocha with cream seems insane
3. I've learned how little it actually takes to fill me up, and how long it takes for that to register. I have my main meal on fast days in the afternoon and it always seems pathetically small and I always still feel hungry when I finish eating. But amazingly half an hour later I fell pretty satsified food wise, definitely not still hungry.

Even if you don't want to try the 5:2, or if you do and don't think it's for you. The above points are worth learning if you can find a way.

Good luck

P.S. Oh yeah, I also have the saggy middle bodyshape, and find it incredibly frustrating that there's no way I can wear a bikini along side lots of people significantly heavier than me

pinkteapot

Ok, this is going to sound like a bit of a rude comment and I don't mean it be, but....

Are you busy? Is your time full?

My mind wanders to snacks far more on quieter days. When I'm run off my feet at work and then at home, I suddenly realise that I've eaten far less. Boredom eating is definitely a thing.

What time of day do you binge and what else could you be doing, so you're distracted?

sputnik1957

While genetics are a significant factor, I believe there are links between sugar/carb intake and visceral fat (belly fat). The WHO advise sugar to make up less than 10% of calories. Which is more difficult than we all might think!

Retrogamer

sputnik1957 wrote: »

While genetics are a significant factor, I believe there are links between sugar/carb intake and visceral fat (belly fat). The WHO advise sugar to make up less than 10% of calories. Which is more difficult than we all might think!

Eating too many calories, regardless of the source will make you gain weight.
Your genes will determine where that extra weight goes on your body.

sputnik1957

Food classes do have an affect on where it's deposited in addition to genetics.

jenniewb

Retrogamer wrote: »

Eating too many calories, regardless of the source will make you gain weight.
Your genes will determine where that extra weight goes on your body.

Although I partially agree with you; genetics do give us a predisposition to certain body shapes; it is also proven that certain hormones can lead our bodies to lay down body fat in specific areas; cortisol for example which is a hormone produced when we or our bodies experience stress


Either stress due to psychological experiences around us/how we feel or stress our bodies feel if for example we eat a lot of high sugar foods or foods which are made up of simple carbohydrates which lead to a blood sugar drop and put our bodies in a position of stress (other physiological conditions can put our bodies in stress, not just food; things like physical injuries, lack of sleep, lots of aerobic exercise for hours on end etc etc).


If we experience high amounts of stress for whatever reason, be it emotional, physical, through diet or general poor health or whatever it is, out bodies will produce more cortisol. Cortisol is a hormone and that hormone tells our bodies that we are in danger and as a result our bodies go into fight-or-flight mode n terms of how it delivers our energy and stores our energy.


It stores our energy around our torso because it's then easier to access when the fight begins (which is what it is anticipating). It stores it not just around our stomach which is where we most notice it, but also around our back, hips, bottom, and does this with any calories it can cipher away for storage; it does this because it believes it is experiencing a life or death moment. You can't stop it you can only work in dealing with the stress signal to begin with that creates the cycle.


There are ways you can work on distressing be it emotional stress or physical stress (an injury which needs repair for example). But when it comes to food it's a little trickier because we have a predisposition to crave the very foods which trigger the body to produce cortisol purely because it's easier for our bodies to store without having to work very hard on digesting.


Try sticking to complex carbs, low or no sugar foods and making sure you get a healthy balance or protein and some fats and not forgetting to drink enough and eat a variety of fresh fruit and steamed vegetables, It sounds easy but for most, sticking to it is not so easy. It's easy to know what to do, not so easy to carry out.

Dan83

I bought a bike late last summer, used it regularly and noticed a difference in about s week, I didn't go far, about 2 miles at 1st which took about 20mins to start off with. The weight loss is slow and takes a while (depending how much and how far you use it for) but after a week I felt a lot better, sleeping better, feeling better, more energy.

Feral_Moon

If you're carrying belly fat then you're at a much greater risk of developing T2 diabetes and having a stroke and cardiovascular problems. It's as much a hormonal problem as dietary and stress along with lack of sleep, producing a hormone called cortisol is a major contributory factor. The medical term for it is Metabolic X syndrome and common in women reaching peri-menopausal age, so basically from late 30s onwards.

TiredTrophy

How about trying something a little different? When you feel the urge to binge and put your shoes on to walk to the shop, say to yourself that you will just go round the long way....if you are enjoying the walk , do another ten minutes .....you might then go home for a nice cup of tea or continue for half an hour, but if you still want that desired item, buy the smallest in the shop, take it home, put it on a plate and eat it with a knife and fork!! It wil take ages to eat a mars bar with a knife and fork!
You sound a bit sad....do you have RL friend you could pop over to see when you feel the need to eat unhealthily? A hug is so nice when you feel bad.
Good luck with it all.